Casual games heavyweight PopCap has announced Ben Rotholtz has stepped into the newly created role of vice president of marketing.
Amazingly, Rotholtz joins the company as its first senior marketing executive, taking responsibility for the company’s advertising, public relations, marketing and promotional efforts. Prior to his appointment at PopCap, he spent nine years at RealNetworks, serving in various capacities including general manager of web services and syndication for Real’s Rhapsody division.
“Building a marketing team at PopCap is one of those dream opportunities that come along once in a lifetime, if that,” Rotholtz said of joining a company that already dominates its market segment. “This is a highly creative and gifted company with superb, quality products that have succeeded thus far on word-of-mouth and non-stop positive critiques from the media. The challenge of raising the profile of PopCap and its games worldwide is truly inspiring and energizing – I can’t wait to get started!”
“We’re elated to have Ben joining our executive team and building our fledgling marketing department into a powerhouse,” added PopCap CEO David Roberts, who apparently seeks to rule the casual gaming demographic with an iron fist, crushing all who dare oppose him. “Ben will oversee all aspects of our marketing and will be responsible for driving programs and campaigns that support our casual games while further burnishing our corporate brand and making it a household name.”
“We’ve enjoyed considerable success without the benefit of any formal marketing beyond public relations to date,” he continued, referring to the sale of more than ten million units of the company’s flagship title Bejeweled as well as the crack-like addictiveness of the other games in PopCap’s stable which collectively have been downloaded more than one billion times worldwide, “and we’re very excited to realize the benefits Ben’s expertise and experience will have on our overall market presence and consumer awareness.”
